Audit Finds Texas Improperly Spent Terror Funds

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- An audit of the state's spending of nearly $600 million in federal anti-terrorism funds found that some of the money was spent improperly, including to buy a trailer that was used to haul lawn mowers to ``lawn mower drag races.''

The state auditor's office pointed out several cases in which poor monitoring by the Texas Engineering Extension Service may have allowed abuse.

One county bought 18 radios and other communication equipment from a company owned by one of its county commissioners, according to the report released Thursday. Another jurisdiction used a trailer ostensibly bought as emergency equipment to haul lawn mowers to races, the report says.

State auditors have forwarded the case to their special investigation unit, which handles fraud, abuse and other criminal allegations.

The audit's findings mirror some of the weaknesses identified in a September report by The Dallas Morning News. The newspaper found that some cities used anti-terrorism funds to buy equipment for traffic stops, drug investigations and even community festivals.

The extension service said it agreed with many of the auditor's recommendations but that overall it had done an excellent job overseeing grants. It has begun requiring some grant recipients to report how they use equipment.

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and NY is still waiting for how much of its promised reconstruction funds?

Fresno got 7 million last year and is getting absolutely nothing this year.

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Some of this is laughable. At the same time troubling. It may be that I live in the DC area, but the fact that we will see only $78M given the high profile nature is sad. It will only stretch our own limited local budgets.

And when we're attacked again, I wonder what the new excuse will be. You can talk about it, you can throw money at it, you can go to war over it (even if you go to the wrong country to do so), but until you actually fix the problem, it will still be there. And the terrorists know it. I'm surprised we haven't been attacked again, it's not like it wouldn't be easy for them to do so. Maybe Bush is right, they're so busy screwing up in Iraq, the terrorist haven't bothered to come back here. Yet.

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